Thrown to the Wolves (A Black Treaty Novel Book 1)

by Pixie Unger

  “Something I need to know?” Sarah asked, trying to keep her voice light.

  Craig shook his head and hurried down the stairs without saying a word.

  Sarah watched him go.

  “You did good last night, gir- Sarah.” Marv said. “We’re all real proud of you.”

  Sarah frowned and turned back to look at him. “I got abducted. How is that anything to be proud of?”

  Gus was shaking his head. “No. You fought. You followed Marv and when you knew it wasn’t him, you fought and called for help.”

  “You also knew the elf shot was there, even when we missed it.” Sean added.

  “I don’t remember calling for help.”

  “You remember screaming, yeah?” Mac said. “That was a call for help and we heard it.”

  “If you had told me I might be abducted by shapeshifters, I would have been prepared to fight it in the house.” Sarah said, unable to keep all the accusation out of her voice.

  “I shoulda told you. I was thinkin’ you had enough to deal with suddenly learnin’ werewolves are real. Wasn’t sure you were ready to deal with elves, too.”

  Sarah considered this. “I’m going to go check on Molly.”

  They all nodded and backed away from her a little. “She could do with a walk.” Marv suggested.

  “Is this where you tell me to take one of the boys with me?”

  Marv shrugged. “Stay out of the woods, or take someone with you. You’ll be fine in town.”

  Chapter 8

  1780 - North American Deployment

  Additional Lupers were moved from Europe to North America to combat a Frost Giant incursion at New York. Jonathan Black led the settlement himself.

  The original Haven was built. The Packs first encounter Others who can Change. One such creature Jack/George was installed as the Gatekeeper at Haven. The penthouse was promised to the Strega, Aradia and her descendants in exchange for protection for the structure.

  Whoever was on dinner duty had cooked a full turkey dinner. Sarah was surprised. Then she realized she would be surprised if there were any leftovers. She was stirring the gravy into her mashed potatoes and trying to figure out how to say what she needed to say without it getting weird.

  “Spill it.” Marv said. Sarah looked up. “Something is bothering you,” he continued. “Just say it and get it over with, then will figure out how to fix it.”

  Sarah cleared her throat. “I’m not sure if it is rude to ask or not.”

  There was an assortment of bemused noises from around the table. “We ain’t shy. Just spit it out.”

  “When you are... in another, um, shape, is it still you?” Now they were staring at her. “Yeah. Rude. Sorry.”

  “Not rude… I’m just not sure I know what you’re asking.”

  Sarah looked at Sean then back at her plate. “I don’t know what I’m asking.”

  “I don’t remember eating Lori.” Sean said softly. “But I was just turned and I couldn’t control the change yet. These days, I’m always me.”

  Sarah kept looking at her plate, aware that her ears were burning in a way that suggested she was bright red. She just shook her head, no. Nicole had been very clear that everyone changed to combat form during sex and that Sarah had to be prepared for that. It was psychologically hard on people to suddenly be either fucking a wolf creature or suddenly be a wolf creature when you weren’t expecting it. She had pointed out that a lot of Lupers found it easier to change first, if their partners could tolerate that.

  Everyone was silent. “If that wasn’t what you wanna know, then what are you asking?”

  Sarah pushed at her potatoes and thought some more. “Nicole had Mac show me his combat form and he explained about the stealth form… that was what you were last night, right?”

  She didn’t look up to see Marv glaring at Craig. “Yeah.”

  “And… uh… you still talk in all three shapes, that’s why there’s a special language, right? Talking means thinking… so… is it still you thinking or is it different?”

  Marv leaned back. “Both. It’s still me, but I’m more aware of smells and less aware of colours. Everything gets evaluated for threat level or prey potential. After a while we train ourselves to be like that in all three forms.”

  Sarah nodded and peeked up at him for a moment. “Thank you,” she said softly.

  “That tell you what you wanted to know?” Marv asked. Sarah nodded. “Can you tell me why you were asking?”

  She shook her head. “It’s stupid.”

  “Doubt it. It will help us understand where your head's at with everything.”

  Sarah ate her turkey in silence for a few minutes. “After last night, I don’t want to be alone in my room, but I don’t want someone who is going to see it as a sex thing staying with me. I wouldn’t invite some guy I barely knew for a sleepover, so I guess that applies to werewolves too.”

  Marv gritted his teeth. How could he even try to tell her that none of them would try anything when last night Craig sorta had? She locked herself in her room at night.

  Mac spoke up, “Sarah? You could come sleep in our room, if you want.”

  She frowned at him. “None of you ever sleep in your rooms. I would have noticed.”

  Gus shook his head. “We tend to sleep in a pile in the room that used to be the parlour.” He realized she was giving him a curious look. “Room was big enough, so we put down four king sized mattresses. It’s easier to just… put on a fur coat and sleep in a pile than to heat the whole house at night.”

  “Can I think about it?” she asked.

  “Of course.” Marv said smoothly, interpreting that as a no.

  After supper, Sarah went back to her room and learned that the new doors didn’t lock. On one hand, that meant that Marv couldn’t ever lock her in again. On the other, it meant she couldn’t lock the boys out.

  Boys. Why did she think of them that way? They weren’t boys, they were grown men. She had picked up on Marv referring to them that way and it made the whole thing less scary. But, no, she was living in a house with five strange MEN, who could change into monsters at will. Why was she just going along with that? She should be running away.

  Could she even run away? Would they end up just tracking her like bloodhounds? Nicole’s set up at the clinic seemed pretty advanced. It sounded like they had a network of Lupers all over the world. And what the hell was bog iron?

  She read the wikipedia article, but it made no sense. She was sure Mac had said he was infected in the seventies in England. Gus had said their pack was sent to New York state after Mac had joined. Why would Marv and Craig be looking for bog iron in the late 1900’s? She rubbed her bracelet with her thumb and tried to think.

  None of this made any sense.

  It was getting dark out.

  Sarah shivered and wished she had more lights to turn on. If she strained her ears, she could hear the sounds of TV coming from downstairs.

  She pulled on a second pair of socks and took her kindle downstairs. When she crept into the room everyone turned to look at her. It was unnerving. There were five recliners in various shades of man cave and nowhere else to sit. Oh. She turned to leave.

  “Hey! Sarah?” Sean called. “Come take this chair, I’ll go get another one.”

  She shook her head. “It’s OK, I’ll find somewhere else to read.”

  Suddenly everyone was standing up. She took a step back. Marv said, “We’ll just get one of the chairs out of the library. It’ll only take a minute.”

  They didn’t come back with a chair, they came back with a very vintage leather couch. The button tucks were fairly aggressive. This was an old house and all the furniture was old. She wondered how long it had been owned by werewolves. The newest furniture she had seen outside of her room were the recliners and they were garage sale grade. Everything else was antique except the TV, which was state of the art.

  After a brief frenzy of furniture moving, Sarah settled in on the couch. Molly jump
ed up next to her. Sarah gave Marv a quick glance to see if he was going to object. He just shrugged. Sarah relaxed a little and opened her kindle.

  Sean and Marv were arguing sports stats and tossing a football back and forth from their chairs at either end of the room. The couch had been placed outside the line of fire. Near where Gus was knitting. Sarah’s grandmother had knit, but not like that. The only thing she could think of was that Gus did some sort of freaky werewolf knitting. It was weird. Mac and Craig were playing some sort of Zombie killing game on the TV.

  Sarah suddenly had the terrible urge to ask if Zombies were real too, but she didn’t want to sound stupid. And if they were, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

  “Are you alright?”

  Sarah looked up to see Gus watching her. She shrugged, then nodded. “Easier not to heat the whole house, right?”

  Marv made his catch without even looking. “Your room getting cold?”

  Sarah startled. “Um… a bit.”

  “Sorry about that. We’ll get you a heater in the morning.”

  Sarah nodded carefully. Craig didn’t take his eyes off the screen when he added, “That doesn’t mean you aren’t welcome here. It just means we want you to be warm.”

  “Thank you.”

  Chapter 9

  1880 - Jonathan Black Turns Mary Cherny

  The First Alpha Ulfurinn comes to power. She would rule her pack until 1941 when she was vivisected in Berlin.

  Gus got up and went to the kitchen. He put the kettle on and dug in the cupboard for the pineapple weed he had harvested that summer. Sarah wasn’t reading. She was sitting where the people were staring at a book. Her eyes weren’t tracking the text. She was very still. The whole thing looked a bit like shock.

  And she was more than entitled to be in shock. It was just that now they had to deal with that. The ride into Plattsburgh, she hadn’t held on to Mac as tightly as Gus would have liked. The truck was a vague idea he wasn’t going to insist on when they left Bellmont, but the girl wasn’t good on the back of a bike. Plus, having her fall asleep in the cab on the way home had confirmed that he made the right choice.

  Likewise, he could understand her not wanting to be alone after last night. The problem was none of them were going to insist she bunk down with them tonight and Gus was pretty sure she wasn’t going to on her own. That left them in the awkward position where they were all waiting for her to go to bed before they would and she was avoiding sleep as hard as she could.

  What was supposed to happen here was Marv telling her to either go to bed or come to bed. But he wasn’t going to do that. He also wasn’t going to be happy if anyone else did. Gus was going to have to be careful how he did this. Language was important. He knew that. He also knew how to use that in his favour. He made two cups of tea, each with an added a spoonful of honey and a shot of the whisky he had won from Craig in about a day and a half.

  Heading back to the ballroom he held out both mugs and let Sarah choose one. She took a sip and coughed and said, “I think I got yours by mistake.”

  “Nah. It’ll keep you warm on a cold night. You’ll be wanting to find a pair of pajamas and a blanket before you come to bed tonight. We’ll need a few minutes to get changed, but we can do that while you’re washing up.”

  Sarah turned tired eyes on him and nodded.

  Marv started to say something, Sean hit him with the football.

  “Wanna go see where we sleep?” Gus asked. Sarah nodded again and got up off the couch. Gus took a gulp of his tea, then led the way. “It’s at the front of the house. The parlour was where the lady of the house would entertain guests for tea. It’s right near the front door. Since we sealed up the rest of the doors, it is a good place to guard from. It’s right across from Marv’s office.”

  “Where’s the library?”

  “Ah. That will be Marv’s office as well. Lots of books from the first owners of the house. Medical books from the late 1800’s early 1900’s. They are a laugh, when you are of a mind to read them. A leather bound encyclopedia from 1917. The books on botany aren’t too bad, but I wouldn’t trust the one on mushrooms.”

  Sarah had gotten that quiet thoughtful posture that generally meant things were about to go wrong. Feck.

  “I took the couch out of Marv’s office?”

  “Nah. He gave it to you. We aren’t up to decorating. I don’t think he would mind if you wanted to rearrange things a bit.”

  “This is Marv’s house?”

  OK, now they were steering back towards danger. “Aye. The alpha’s name is always on the title. Unless an Ulfurinn claims the house, then, well, I guess it would be yours.” Sarah stared at him. “Women always own the house. Dinna Nicole tell you that? That’s why you have the big bedroom.”

  Sarah shook her head. “No. She never said.”

  Gus just shrugged, not wanting to get into the details. Technically, she could claim the house, the business and all the assets of the territory and kick them all out on their arses. It would be a stupid and dangerous move. She wouldn’t be able to hold it on her own. He wasn’t sure she fully understood that though.

  Everyone was focusing on Craig’s violation of the treaty and ignoring that Marv had completely crossed the line when he locked her in and left her unattended.

  They were only getting away with any of this because she was new and wasn’t confident enough to claim her rights. Gus had heard plenty of stories of Ulfurinn who had arranged for their packs to be purged for far weaker reasons than either of those.

  Sarah was looking around the parlour now. There wasn’t much to see. Heavy velvet drapes that were probably due for a cleaning. A foot or so perimeter around the edge of the room. Four king sized mattresses pushed together in the center of the room. The fitted sheets matched because they just ordered from a hotel supplier. Between the drool and the claws and the… bodily fluids, sheets didn’t last long around here. After Mac had suggested she sleep here, he and Gus had made sure the beds sheets were clean.

  It helped that Molly just walked into the room, found her preferred corner and curled up with a sigh. Sarah looked surprised at that.

  “She slept in here with us every night when you were in the hospital. She likes the space near the fireplace. There is a bit of a draft over there. The room gets a bit… warm with all of us in here at night.”

  Sarah nodded.

  “Did you want to go get cleaned up then?” Gus asked, still being very careful with his word choices. She nodded again. He took her empty tea cup. “I’ll take these to the kitchen and see you in a few minutes, yeah?”

  Nod. She turned to leave and froze on the threshold for a moment. Of course, just because he was careful, didn’t mean his pack mates weren’t daft. They were all lining the hallway so she had to walk past them on her way to her room. Feck. That was going to make it harder for her to come back.

  And, oh jaysus! Marv was gonna say something!

  Craig wasn’t a total idjit, he elbowed his alpha in the ribs when Marv opened his mouth. If Sarah noticed, she ignored it. Gus breathed a sigh of relief with the breath he hadn’t known he was holding.

  Marv waited until they heard her door click shut. Then he turned on his second and angrily whispered, “What the hell was that?”

  “I’m making her feel welcome. We bin doing a piss poor job of that. I didn’t say she had to, I didn’t even invite her. All I did was show her where we sleep. IF she turns up, that’s all on her. We just have to be not scary so she can stay.” And with that, Gus pulled off his shirt and tossed it in the corner. His pants quickly followed. He was dog shaped before Marv could add anything to that. Mac and Craig quickly followed.

  Marv glared at them. “Because she is going to want to sleep with a pack of wolves, right?”

  Gus shook his head. It was harder with how his neck worked now and made his ears flap. “She said she wouldn’t sleep with strange men or werewolves. Didn’t say anything about dogs.”

  “As much as you are sure
I now have ‘asshole’ tattooed on my forehead,” Craig added, “she hasn’t treated me that way.”

  Sean smelled uncertain. Marv considered all of this then patted the man’s back. “Sounds like it’s time to change for bed, son.” After Sean had shifted, Marv picked up the tea cups that Gus hadn’t gotten to the kitchen and left.

  Gus closed his eyes and prayed to whatever gods might be listening that this worked. It might. She was wearing the socks he made her. She had accepted the bracelet from Craig. Even little things like falling asleep in the truck while alone with him were encouraging. She smelled nervous and uncomfortable a lot of the time, but she wasn’t often scared. She had been scared when she came into the ballroom tonight. But she had moved past that shortly after settling on the couch.

  Things had been better since she started working in the garage. He knew that made Marv uncomfortable, but it made her happy. Their alpha was going to absolutely choke the first time she insisted on paying for something, but Sean was already working on him about that.

  He settled down on the mattress to wait. The others followed his lead. In the quiet they could hear Marv checking the house to make sure everything was locked up tight and all the lights were turned off. They heard Sarah’s door open and closed. Craig sat up. “Lay down, you dummy,” Gus whispered.

  She was wearing flannel pajamas, a terry bathrobe, two pairs of socks and was wrapped up in the fuzzy throw blanket they had bought her that morning. She picked her way around the edge of the room and sat down in the far corner. That was interesting. She was choosing to have them between her and the door. Girl was more afraid of the elves than she was of them. Well, it was a start.

  Marv was going to say something about her sleeping on the floor though. Aw, hell, thought Gus. Well, here goes nothing. “Come to bed.” She looked up at that. “Sleep here.” He nosed the mattress near where she was sitting, then backed away. “Please,” he added.